Rotary vane engine with orbiting inner and outer members

Abstract

An engine of the rotary or orbital type having a piston member mounted to move eccentrically within a housing with a plurality of vanes disposed between the piston member and the housing to form a number of chambers which vary in volume as a piston member orbits within the housing. Each vane is supported in the piston member or housing for radial sliding movement as the piston member orbits and the vanes are mechanically controlled between respective sets of parallel surfaces which engage radially spaced portions of the vane to prevent radial movement of the vane relative to these surfaces while allowing lateral movement of the vanes along the surfaces as the piston member orbits.

I claim: 
     
       1. An engine comprising a housing including an internal peripheral wall and opposed end walls, a shaft rotatably supported in the housing, a piston member journalled eccentrically on said shaft to describe an orbital path within said housing upon relative rotation between said shaft and said housing, said piston member defining with said internal peripheral wall and said end walls a working cavity, a plurality of vanes disposed generally radially to the axis of said shaft and supported in said housing for reciprocal movement radially with respect to the axis of said shaft, and for lateral movement between a first position in radial alignment with a radius of said piston member and a plurality of second positions on either side of said first position and wherein said vanes are parallel to said first position, said vanes being mechanically controlled between two sets of parallel control surfaces to prevent radial movement of said vanes relative to said parallel control surfaces while allowing lateral movement of said vanes along said control surfaces between said first position and said second positions, one set of said parallel control surfaces being located on the periphery of said orbiting piston member, the other set of said parallel control surfaces being located on vane controlling member or members located outside said working cavity, said vane controlling member or members moving in an orbital path about said shaft axis as said piston orbits, sealing means operatively disposed between each said vane and said piston member, said housing peripheral wall and said housing end walls to divide said working cavity into a plurality of chambers, the volume of each said chamber varying as said piston member orbits, and means to regulate the admission to and exhausting from each said chamber in sequence of a working fluid to induce orbiting of said piston member and the resultant relative rotation between said shaft and said housing. 
     
     
       2. An engine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said ring member extends about said periphery housing. 
     
     
       3. An engine as claimed in claim 1 wherein said other set of control surfaces are formed on a ring member disposed externally of said working cavity, and said vanes extend through respective slots in said housing to engage said ring member. 
     
     
       4. An engine as claimed in claim 3 wherein said other set of control surfaces are formed on the internal periphery of said ring member. 
     
     
       5. An engine as claimed in claim 3 wherein each control surface of said other set of control surfaces comprises a flat surface parallel to a complementary flat control surface of said one set of said control surfaces on the periphery of the said piston. 
     
     
       6. An engine as claimed in claim 5 wherein each of said flat surfaces formed on said ring member comprises a wall of a respective slot formed on the ring member, each said slot being parallel to the corresponding control surface on said piston, each said vane having a portion thereof extending into the respective said slot.